


lips like honey, tongue like whiskey

by nobrainjustchiakienstar



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Making Out, Pre-Canon, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26971981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobrainjustchiakienstar/pseuds/nobrainjustchiakienstar
Summary: Niki’s first taste of alcohol was off of Rinne’s lips.There was no preamble, nothing special about the occasion, just Rinne leaning across the table during dinner one evening after taking a drink of his gifted whiskey and Niki closing the distance without thinking.The flavor of whiskey was something novel, after all.
Relationships: Amagi Rinne/Shiina Niki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 97





	lips like honey, tongue like whiskey

**Author's Note:**

> i really don't have much to say about this one just go with it

Niki’s first taste of alcohol was off of Rinne’s lips.

There was no preamble, nothing special about the occasion, just Rinne leaning over the table during dinner one evening after taking a drink of his gifted whiskey and Niki closing the distance without thinking. Niki also wasn’t thinking when he ran his tongue over Rinne’s lips to get a better taste of the honey whiskey, didn’t think anything of it when Rinne gasped against his mouth, and especially didn't think about the implications of his actions when he leaned further over the table into Rinne's space.

The flavor of whiskey was something novel, after all -- neither he nor Rinne were actually of age to buy it yet, merely 16 and 18 years old respectively, and Niki's father had only ever used wines and the occasional beer for cooking. It was sweeter than Niki had expected, and warm in a way that he couldn't describe, not the same as a spice or simple heat, but something that warmed him from the core.

He pulled away after another lick to Rinne's lips, once he was sure he'd gotten all there was to taste. Licking his own lips, Niki started contemplating the types of food that would pair well with the whiskey: maybe a dessert? Something smooth with a natural sweetness to match the rich honey flavor….

Niki pushed himself up from the floor, gathering his dishes and taking them to the sink while he planned out another dish ( _perhaps a crème brûlée? No, that's caramel notes, so maybe a fruit?_ ) -- cleaning in silence while Rinne finished his own food.

He was legitimately surprised when Rinne came up behind him yet didn't say anything, not even a remark about how Niki looked like a housewife with his grown-out ponytail or a jab about how they just ate and he was already searching for ingredients to cook again. No, Rinne just washed his own dishes in silence, set the bottle of whiskey he'd been gifted on top of the fridge, and left the kitchenette without a word to go shower. He didn’t even touch Niki -- no hand on his shoulder, no hug, no tug on his hair, nothing.

It was weird, and put a bitter taste in Niki's mouth.

Upon realizing he'd have to go buy raspberries for the raspberry-honey glaze he wanted to serve over a vanilla custard, Niki sighed and noted down the recipe for some other time. Maybe he could squeeze in a chance to barter for some after his part-time shift in the morning.

The air in the apartment was heavy and he had no idea why, Niki was just hoping that Rinne would say _something_ , but he was suddenly more distant than Niki had ever seen him before; Rinne crossed the main room to lay on their bed immediately after exiting the bathroom.

Maybe he was just sleepy after drinking? Niki knew that was a possible side effect of alcohol anyway; not that Rinne actually had more than a small glass to drink, but maybe it just hit him really hard or something?

Niki cleaned up from dinner in silence.

By the time Niki showered and returned to the main room of their tiny apartment with a towel over his shoulders, Rinne was sitting hunched over on the edge of their bed with his head in his hands.

“Rinne-kun?” Niki approached him carefully, trying not to make any loud noises, "Do you have a headache? Need water or some-ngAH?!"

Rinne gripped the towel at Niki’s shoulders and used it to yank Niki down onto the bed with him, and though he was surprised and a little offended at being tossed around by Rinne as he struggled to fight back, Niki was relieved that Rinne was seemingly back to normal. (If he could call Rinne’s “affection” by borderline-violence “normal”, that is, but Rinne was anything but normal.)

Though he was smaller and certainly weaker than Rinne, Niki put up a good fight against him, until Rinne surprised him with a sucker punch in the form of an accusation:

“You can’t just kiss me out of the blue, ya little bastard!”

“Wh-what?!” Niki struggled to keep Rinne’s hands from pulling his hair. “When did I do _that_?”

Rinne used Niki’s surprise to his advantage, flipping Niki to trap him in a headlock from behind. Ignoring his flailing and squirming, Rinne scoffed, “You _just_ had your goddamn tongue in my _mouth_ and you didn’t even realize what you were doing? Is that what you’re sayin’?”

Niki froze. What the hell was Rinne talking about…?

_Oh._

“ _That_? I was tasting your whiskey!” Niki struggled some more. “You’re choking me, Rinne-kun!”

Rinne loosened the chokehold in favor of holding Niki’s arms down with one arm but didn’t release his hold on Niki’s hair with the other hand. Niki gasped for air, but Rinne wasn’t about to let him off so easily; he threw a leg over Niki’s and hooked his foot around the back of Niki’s ankle, effectively immobilizing him completely with some aggressive abomination of a hug. Niki couldn’t get out if he wanted to.

“You could’ve just asked for a sip.” There was an edge to Rinne’s voice that Niki couldn’t quite figure out without being able to see his face, but he couldn’t turn to check.

“Why are you so mad about it?”

Rinne’s grip on his hair tightened a little; Niki feared for a split second he’d end up with a bald spot. A long, heavy silence fell over the two and Rinne’s hold on Niki loosened just enough for the smaller boy to turn his upper body enough to see his face. His brow was furrowed and he stared at Niki with an unreadable expression, but one that Niki knew meant Rinne was likely thinking of something heinous.

“Rinne-kun--?”

“Lemme try again.” It wasn’t a question -- Rinne never asked for permission for anything anyway, so why would he change now?

The angle was awkward, with Rinne releasing Niki’s hair to prop himself up with his elbow and leaning over his captive, his other hand moving to Niki’s chin to hold him in place. Niki expected Rinne to be aggressive in this too, yet his lips were quivering as they pressed against Niki’s for the first (deliberate) time. Niki was sure he was probably shaking too, though it was a weird mix of anticipation and nerves -- he’d be lying if he hadn’t thought about kissing Rinne before.

Despite having already (unintentionally and _very_ assertively) kissed Rinne for the sampling of whiskey, Niki had no clue what to do. Having Rinne so close and gentle for once was far from unpleasant though, so he shut his eyes, following Rinne’s cautious lead.

Niki knew that most boys his age would be overjoyed at just the idea of having the person they liked kissing them while lying in their own bed, and many would kill to have his fortune in not having to worry about parents catching him locking lips with a scandalous older partner --

He _really_ had to question his own taste for being so head-over-heels for someone like _Rinne Amagi_ though, but questioning himself would have to come later; he let Rinne maneuver his body into a more comfortable position facing him and slid an arm over Rinne’s shoulder to pull them closer together as Rinne gained the confidence to run his tongue over Niki’s lip. Niki gasped sharply, and suddenly Rinne shifted from cautiously curious to demanding, sweeping Niki up in his pace with ease.

All Niki could focus on was Rinne: the way his tongue grazed the back of Niki’s teeth and he swallowed Niki’s involuntary groans, how his hands gripped Niki’s waist when he pulled Niki’s smaller body on top of himself as he laid back into the pillows, the way his breath from his nose tickled Niki’s cheek as they refused to part for air.

Niki wondered if maybe there was alcohol still lingering on Rinne’s tongue, even if he couldn’t taste it anymore, because he swore this was how it felt to be drunk.

“Fuck,” Rinne breathed against Niki’s lips, his voice lower than Niki had ever heard it. He pressed his lips to Niki’s again quickly, as if he was struggling to actually part from him. “Niki.”

Niki shivered hearing his name from Rinne _like that_ , but pulled away just enough to ask, “Yeah?”

They shared another wet kiss, maybe two, before suddenly strong hands were on Niki’s shoulders, firmly pushing him away. Niki looked down at Rinne with confusion; they’d been doing just fine, weren’t they? Or was he completely misreading the situation again? Had he really messed things up beyond repair this time?

“No more until you marry me,” Rinne interrupted his thoughts with a completely serious expression, though his swollen lips and flushed cheeks made it hard to take him seriously.

“Very funny, Rinne-kun,” Niki laughed as he leaned in again.

However, Rinne didn’t meet him in the middle this time, instead covering Niki’s mouth with his hand. Niki narrowed his eyes and licked it, making sure to make it as wet and gross as possible, but Rinne was unfazed; he wiped his hand on Niki’s face and used Niki’s momentary shocked attempt to dry his own face to try to wrestle him into another headlock.

Niki put up a better fight, avoiding being near-strangled again, but still ultimately ended up pinned under Rinne.

“I’m serious, Niki!” Rinne loomed over him but his expression was honest, “Take responsibility and become my bride before ya kiss me again!”

“I can’t be your bride, Rinne-kun, we’ve been over this.” Niki squirmed under Rinne’s weight.

As if he was suddenly drained, Rinne rolled off of Niki, settling to simply lay next to him as he pouted, wearing the expression he knew Niki could never say no to. “Then make it work!”

Niki rolled his eyes and turned to face Rinne, touching the back of his hand to Rinne’s forehead. “You sure that whiskey isn’t killing your brain? You’re supposed to be the smart one here.”

“Yup! I didn’t have that much.”

Pulling his hand away, Niki let out a sigh and settled in against Rinne’s chest. “You’re ridiculous.” He wondered as he fell asleep if Rinne would really be able to hold out on kissing him again until the unlikely day they end up married, or if he’d really make Niki have to rely on memory alone to relive the flavor of his intoxicating lips.

* * *

Niki could always recreate the flavor of anything he's tasted once. He's perfected desserts that taste like the whiskey he tasted that night, yet even two years later he can't replicate the warmth that came with tasting it on Rinne’s tongue.

**Author's Note:**

> stan crazy:b
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/shiinyniki)


End file.
